See the Abortion Documentary ‘After Tiller’

“After Tiller,” a new documentary focused on the four doctors in the United States openly performing third-trimester abortions, takes a complicated subject beyond the familiar muck of abstract and often ill-informed talking points to deliver a frank portrayal of the real life situations of the physicians and their desperate patients.

The film’s title refers to Dr. George Tiller, the late-term abortion provider who was shot to death at his Kansas church in 2009 by an anti-abortion zealot. Dr. Tiller was a friend and mentor to the doctors featured in the film, who see themselves as carrying on his work – providing legal and necessary medical care for women whose much-wanted pregnancies have gone horribly wrong, as well as for women not ready for motherhood who delayed terminating their pregnancy out of some combination of fear, shame and denial.

This is hard, ethically complex and deeply personal terrain. Seeing the documentary, co-directed by Martha Shane and Lana Wilson, reconfirmed this viewer’s belief that the one-size-fits-all abortion restrictions spreading across the country are inappropriate, disrespectful to women, and even cruel. Others may conclude differently.
But the uncommon dedication, compassion and courage of the four doctors, who strive to serve the needs of women caught in wrenching circumstances as anti-abortion protestors maintain a constant presence just beyond the clinic doors, should be plain to all.